Edmund Peate (2 March 1855 – 11 March 1900) was an English professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

and the

English cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

Overview

Born on 2 March 1855 in

Holbeck Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the o ...

near

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in Yorkshire, Peate's career, which lasted from 1879 to 1890, was exceptional but short. He earned his place in the Yorkshire side in 1879 and, "before the season was over," wrote

WG Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

(against whom he enjoyed conspicuous success), "had taken rank with the very best bowlers in England. Every year added to his fine reputation; and no matter the company he played in he came through the ordeal most successfully." Peate rose in 1880 to the top of the cricketing tree and remained there until the end of 1884. He amply filled the boots of

Alfred Shaw Alfred Shaw (29 August 1842 – 16 January 1907) was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North Ameri ...

, becoming the first-choice slow-bowler for the England elevens of his era. Despite a serious ankle sprain, which kept him out of action for a fortnight, Peate managed a new record wicket haul for a county-cricket season with 214 in 1882. As Grace affirms, "Peate... had now become the acknowledged best slow bowler of England". His finest (and lowest) hour came in the Test Match against Australia at the Oval of August 1882, when he was the last man in to bat at the end of England's second innings, with his country needing only ten runs to win. Peate got only two before he was bowled by Harry Boyle, giving the Australians their first ever Test win in England. He arrived back in the dressing-room to be admonished for not having left the job to his better-equipped partner, the in-form Charles Studd. "I couldn't trust Mr Studd," Peate explained. Although less famous than the death notice of English cricket which appeared in ''

The Sporting Times ''The Sporting Times'' (founded 1865, ceased publication 1932) was a weekly British newspaper devoted chiefly to sport, and in particular to horse racing. It was informally known as ''The Pink 'Un'', as it was printed on salmon-coloured paper ...

'' on 2 September 1882, another in similar vein was published on 30 August 1882 in

C. W. Alcock Charles William Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of ...

's ''Cricket: a Weekly Record of The Game'', reading: Alcock, C. W., (ed.), ''Cricket: a Weekly Record of The Game'' dated 31 August 1882 There ought to have been many more years of good work ahead of him, but he put on a great deal of weight and showed a weakness for alcohol. In the summer of 1886, it became evident that his days in first-class cricket were numbered. It was said that he would "have lasted longer had he ordered his life more carefully." He never entirely lost his skill as a bowler. Even up to the last year or two of his life, he played with success in club cricket in and around Leeds. He died on 11 March 1900 in Newlay,

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a p ...

, Yorkshire.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peate, Ted 1855 births 1900 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Yorkshire cricketers People from Holbeck Players cricketers Cricketers from Leeds Players of the North cricketers North v South cricketers Over 30s v Under 30s cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers